


Sorting A Slytherin

by Evening12



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Tom Riddle, Gen, Sorting Ceremony, The Sorting Hat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 09:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10409550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evening12/pseuds/Evening12
Summary: Years later, he thought about Tom Riddle.





	

Harry Potter. What a peculiar child. But then again, he wasn’t the first peculiar child to visit the Sorting Hat. In the moments before yelling “Better be Gryffindor!” the Sorting Hat reflected on his long career at Hogwarts. He remembered them all. He remembered all the children that had come before him. Scared, bewildered, and lonely children. He remembered little Regulus Black, who tried in vain to stride up to the stool; the last Black to ever be sorted. He’d sorted them all. But none had been more peculiar than Tom Riddle.

Tom had always known that he was different than other children. And it wasn’t because he was a wizard. While most children giggled, cried and screamed, Tom sat quietly and observed. He’d learned long ago that a smile, the right smile, could open up the world to him. When you smiled, people trusted you. A set smile on his lips, Tom had once made Mrs. Cole believe that he hadn’t done anything to little Amy Benson. Tom had smiled broadly when Professor Slughorn had ushered him into the Great Hall. And Tom had smiled when the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. Yes, Tom had smiled a lot at Hogwarts.

The Sorting Hat never regretted his sortings. There was a house for every child and a child for every house. And Tom Riddle had been a Slytherin and would always be so. But sometimes, on days like today, he did wonder if a different house could have taught Tom to truly smile.


End file.
